Brick-String Heart
by Warriorsqueen
Summary: Post Thor: The Dark World. Written for Mischief and Mistletoe Exchange 2013 on AO3. Sif is unsure how to feel after Loki's funeral. Loki isn't quite sure either.


_This fic was written for fauness for the Mischief and Mistletoe exchange on AO3._  
_ It's really short, but I hope you love this fic and have a happy holidays!_

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When she first heard that Loki's body was found on Svartalfheim, Sif shut down. She could hear the gleeful tones hidden under mournful words. She could see the relief in eyes and the frowns. She dared not give the emotions the others showed. Their faces were false, but her face was true. Her handily softly brushed against her stomach, but her face showed no emotion. Showing her emotion would reveal her true affection for the trickster prince.

Her mind was a haze, not fully realizing anything. She didn't even recognize the motions of the funeral she attended. Its small and personal, and extremely tiny compared to the mourning over the queen. The body was set ablaze upon land, and was never sent to water.

When Sif finally reached her own room, she felt her own mask finally slip from her face. The warm tears fell down her face. Loki, her Loki, was dead. Her lover, her guide, her light. Her other half. The father of her future child.

Tears still in her eyes, Sif slowly began to strip down out of her armor. As her tears started to dry, Sif stepped, dirty and bear, out onto her balcony.

She fell to her knees and began to whisper a prayer

"Mother Yggdrasil, I plead you guide the soul of Loki Laufeyson onward to Valhalla. Let his final sacrifice be the ultimate proof that allows him enter the great feast." She then spoke an ancient mourning prayer, one that used many of the old-Asgardian words that she didn't completely know the meanings of.

By the end of the devotion, Sif rose and went back into her room. As she reentered, she noticed a sealed note. This note lay untouched upon her bed, and it bore the royal sigil of the Allfather.

Sif's brow furrowed in confusion. Why would the Allfather be contacting her? Especially at this time. She carefully loosened the seal, and opened the note. The ink shone with the gold of magic, surrounding the words erasing them as she read them.

_One should not mourn a lover that hasn't gone. Tomorrow, join me in my chambers. We have much to discuss. I shall send for you._

_-Your King_

As the final letters disappeared, Sif clenched the paper in her fist as tears fell upon her cheeks. But this time these tears were of happiness.

While the note was short and vague, she could tell that it was not the Allfather who had written it. Her loyalty to Asgard sent thoughts of caution to her head, but her joyful heat sent of thoughts of happiness and love.

Cheeks still damp and smile still upon her lips, Sif laid herself into her bed. As sleep came upon her, she wished deeply for the warmth of a body next to her.

As the sun rose over Asgard, Sif was awake and pacing across her room. She was dressed in a simple, yet still beautiful, dress and was impatient for the guards to arrive to escort her to the quarters of the Allfather.

She was impatient, but not fully because of nervousness, but more because she was unsure. Or that was at least what she told herself.

As soon as there was a knock on her door, Sif straightened her posture and answered the door.

There was a single guard to escort her. She followed the guard, a small smile upon her face. Sif walked with powerful stride, like one might compare to that of a queen. But like always, she was putting on a show of strength.

She was led

"You have called for me Allfather?" Her voice held notes of knowledge and power, and her face glowed with a light happiness.

A whisper of a smile appeared upon Odin's face, "Indeed I have Lady Sif. Guards, please leave us."

The guard that escorted her, along with two others, quickly genuflected with their fists over their hearts then quickly left. As the door to the chamber closed, the body of Odin glowed, melting away to be replaced by the lithe body of her lover.

Sif ran forward and embraced the trickster. Loki gave a small smirk and lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss was momentary, yet intensely passionate, before Loki pulled back with a smirk growing across his face.

"I can clearly see you have missed me, my lady. And I can also see that you, unlike so many, have truly mourned me. I brought you here to ask you why."

Sif was surprised, "What do you mean? Why shouldn't I mourn you?"

An angry sneer came over Loki's face. "I know why you think you do. You mourned me out of pity." The last word came out like a curse.

Sif stood, glowering. "I have never pitied you Loki. I have loved you and I have hated you, but never pitied you. I would never pity you. I love you too much to lower you to pity."

Loki physically softened, but still spoke firmly. "Then why do you still seem unsure? You claim to love me, yet you seem to still stand here in fear. If you claim to love me through all I have done, why are you so afraid of me now?"

"I am not afraid of you!" Sif spoke with an anger so restrained; it could be mistaken for simply impatience. "I am afraid _for _you. And for myself. And for our shared future."

Loki gave a sad, hollow chuckle "A shared future? I do not believe I am allowed a future. Why do you believe it would be shared with you?"

Sif took a deep breath. "A child."

"A child?" Loki's face revealed a pain, a sadness that Sif had never seen before. "A child would be cause for an intertwined future. But a child from us could not happen. A frost giant carried by an Asgardian mother would not be possible."

"But it has." At Sif's words, Loki looked as surprised as if he had been run through with a sword. She continued, "I am with child, and you are the only man I have lain with."

Sif could not read Loki's emotions, as they were so jumbled upon his face. But when he pulled her into a passionate kiss, she knew without needing to see. And Sif was no longer afraid. She and her child would be safe.


End file.
